The Penn State women's basketball team had their second shot at taking down a ranked opponent last night. They came extremely close, but let a big win slip through their fingers.

The Lady Lions fell to No. 23 Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. last night, losing 84-80 in overtime. Sophomore guard Kelly Mazzante's 37 points, just one shy of her career high, were not enough to overcome the Lions' other deficiencies. The Lady Monarchs grabbed 52 rebounds to the Penn State's 31, and that statistic proved to be the difference, down to the last second of the game.

"We came into the game knowing rebounding would be an issue," Lions' head coach Rene Portland said. "Even the last play of the game came down to an offensive rebound."

With under 10 seconds remaining in overtime and the Lions trailing 82-78, sophomore forward Jess Brungo intercepted a Monarchs' pass and scored her first basket of the game to bring the Lions within two. Mazzante was then forced to foul Monarchs' guard Okeisha Howard to send her to the line. Howard missed her free throw and Brungo came up with the rebound, but the Monarchs' Luciene Berthieu stole the ball away and put it in the basket, giving Old Dominion a four-point lead, sealing the victory.

The first half saw several lead changes and at times some ugly basketball on the Penn State side, as four Lady Lions picked up two personal fouls each. The Lions appeared to have some trouble handling the Monarchs' defensive pressure, and both Brungo and starting freshman guard Jess Strom were held scoreless.

Midway through the first half, the Lions got a boost in the form of senior guard Katrena Carr, who saw her first action of the season after being sidelined with an ankle injury and contributed 11 points.

Senior forward Rashana Barnes also turned in a fine performance, earning a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

"I think Rashana really came to play tonight," Portland said. "She was tremendous."

Berthieu and senior forward Hamchetou Maiga paced the Monarchs with 16 points each, and combined for 29 of the Monarchs' rebounds.